Just because a dish is expensive, looks elaborate, and took half a day to make doesn’t guarantee that someone will like it. People have different tastes. And just because someone is upper class doesn’t guarantee that they’ll automatically have incredibly fancy tastes. Similarly, just because someone is well-off doesn’t guarantee that they’ll be able to tell the difference between high-quality ingredients and the cheapest stuff that their kitchen staff could find.

Redditor u/Mission_Issue_9198, a personal chef, shared a tantalizing tale about cooking for an upper-class family. They shared how they quickly learned that it wasn’t worth spending hours upon hours and tens of thousands of dollars on ingredients to cater to the family. For one, they didn’t enjoy the fancy food the chef made. Besides, they loved the cheaper versions of the dishes and raved about them to everyone they knew.

Scroll down for the chef’s full post, as shared on r/TrueOffMyChest, dear Pandas. Do you think that the chef was right to hide the truth from the family? What would you have done in their shoes? Share your thoughts in the comments.

The food you’re eating might not be as fancy and authentic as you think

Image credits: Jason Leung (not the actual photo)

A personal chef working for an upper-class family shared how they started substituting expensive ingredients for cheap ones

Image credits: Yente Van Eynde (not the actual photo)

Image credits: Mission_Issue_9198

It’s a difficult balance to maintain when you’re catering to high-end folks. On the one side of the equation, you have the essence of food—the taste! If something tastes awful, it will destroy the fabulous presentation. Though everyone has personal preferences for what they enjoy, there are some objective things that you should avoid. For instance, overcooking or undercooking food will ruin the experience.

Now, on the other side of the equation, you have the aesthetics of the dish, i.e. how everything looks plated. We do tend to eat with our eyes first. And first impressions do matter. So if someone brings out a dirty plate with unidentifiable gloop smeared all over it, odds are that you might lose your appetite. The food itself might taste fine! But you’ve already lost your customer through your (lack of) presentation.

Some high-end chefs focus on the presentation, at the expense of the taste. They create gastronomic experiences. The over-elaborate works of art they create might impress some. Others, however, might be left confused and hungry because the portions are often tiny. The chef needs to maintain a close connection to the essence of food, otherwise they might come off as pretentious.

The author of the post, whose account was eventually suspended for an unknown reason, explained that they partly feel guilty for going along with the charade while their clients boast about their ‘authentic’ food to everyone. “I just smile and nod,” they wrote.

They admitted that they’d been getting away with this for nearly a decade. Though a part of them is scared that one day the family will find out…

Some readers praised the chef for their ingenuity and skill

Others, however, were slightly suspicious and had some questions for the author of the post

Meanwhile, some people shared similar stories

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